Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1887-01-06

soIb "a gtoan HON q comraoe, ana
az / turned to look at him I noticed
that he was staring into his coffes-pot
with something like terror. while his
face was deathly pale.
What is it?'' / asked.
81 shall be killed today he groan-
ed out.
"Fudgel We don't know that even
single musket will be fired"
IL dreamed last night" he whisper
ed, that / looked down upon a sheet
Of water whose surface was covered
with bubbles. and amidst them saw
my own dead face. / shall be shot
before night"
| ridiculed the idea and brought up
others to assist ms, but the only reply
to our raillery was sad shake Of the
head. He was believer in dreams,
and he certainly felt that his last day
had come. In place of eating his
breakfast he scrubbed off letter to
his mother and intrusted it to a COM
rade. In little time We got the or
der to march, and before noon my
regiment was thrown forward to un-
cover a portion of the federal line
The first missile sent at us was a solid
shot from q field-pisce, and it struck
the young soldier in the chest and cut
him fairly in two without injuring
another man. Not another man was
even wounded for the next ten min
utes.
The night before Burnside crossed
at Fredericksburg a second lieutenant
in Virginia regiment received, with
hundreds of others, some mail from
rsgimental bag. carried the pack
of twenty or thirty letters over to the
officers quarters and handed ID to this
lieutenant. The top letter was for
him, and on one end of the envelope,
was a red stain. 1t looked like blood,
but was probably ink. He no sooner
saw it than he became greatly affected
and said: ~ shall be the frat officer
out of the regiment killed tomorrow.
heard dozen officers ridiculing
him, but he became silent and serious,
and finally walked away by himself.
We were down on the right, where the
first federal attack was made. Our
regiment was using long and deep
land furrow as a rifle pit, and the adj
vancing line of blue had just come
within range, when bullet struck the
lieutenant in the head and killed him
instantly. 1t came from the front, and
was probably from some sharpshootsr
but it was afterward agreed that the
officer who was killed was, perhaps,
the least exposed of any
There was superstition in my reg
iment that any one who went iuto
battle with the foot of a rabbit tied
around his neck was safe. This was
all right, and rabbits feet were at
high premium for two or three weeks.
My brigade was then pushed ahead on
a reconnaissance, bumped up against
the Yanks. and we not only got Sc
verely thrashed, but we lost a good
many men. Out of the seventy men
in my company | presume that thirty
had the talisman. 1t SO happened that
the three killed belonged this lucky"
set, and next day rabbits feet took a
decided fall in price.
was for time brigadier's or
derby. His superstition was that he
would be safe from bullets as long as
he rode chestnut horse. In the first
battle into which l followed him his
chestnut was shot, and, of course, /
hustled to bring him up another
Mine was ceal black, and the only
one which could get for him was a
roam. He didn't seem TO notice the
difference until the action was over,
aud then | got terrible rating. tn
the second battle he had chestnut,
and even before our line came under
fire bullet crippled the horse and
another hit my superstitious general
in the thigh and left him to limp
through life on a short leg. l perso
nally knew other officers who felt safe
on roans, bays, blacks and even whites,
but they sooner or later discovered
that they had pinned their faith to a
rule which had exceptions.
remember that Just before Grant
attacked Lee in the Wilderness and
while | was at brigade headquarters
hen, of which there was large flock
about the yard, scratched up a steel
button. A sergeant ofcavalry at once
dismounted and secured it, and when
| asked what use be could put it to he
replied:
81 will drop it into the ear Of nv
colonels horse just before the next
battle, and no harm will come to eth
sr of them"
But what fetish can there be in
steel button ?"
90, it isn't so much in the button as
in the hen scratching it up before my
eyes"
But why not try it in your own
horses ear and take care of YOURSELF"
ITO be lucky it must be given to
somebody else"
laughed at him and he got so mad
that we nearly came 10 blows. met
him week later, having a saber cut
on his head, and asked him how the
fetish worked.
Must have been a Growing hen
which scratched it up" he replied.
"The colonel and twenty of our men
were killed the day after saw you."
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